Nirvana
by LeaMichelle
Summary: Nirvana- a state of perfect peace and tranquility, you care about nothing, and nothing cares about you. Luke Skywalker's ultimate goal. Kind of difficult with Mara Jade there.     AU


Nirvana

O.o.o.o.o

He was sitting in the tunnel. He very much liked the tunnel. If you sat right smack in the middle of the tunnel, no one could see you, unless they stuck their head in. Which was exactly what he needed right now. For no one to see him. So he sat in the tunnel, nice and coolly shaded from the hot sun. He looked absently at the dark green wall in front of him, bored.

He hated recess.

There was virtually nothing for him to do, except read and listen to music. And frankly he didn't feel like either right now. Oh—and the most important—hide. But he pretty much did that on principle.

Luke Skywalker was bored shitless. He kept checking his watch, seeing how much longer he had to endure this kind of silent torture. He sighed, still too long. Fifteen minutes at least. He looked at one of the tunnel openings to the rest of the playground below. Children ran around screaming, laughing, generally having a good time. His boredom and dull observations were interrupted when someone tapped on the other side of the tunnel. Luke whipped his head around, heart in his throat, berating himself for being so off his guard. He blinked rapidly when he finally saw the face.

"Mind if I join you?"The girl giggled, short red curls bouncing. Luke had no idea who she was, but this was a lot better than some choice other people he could think of.

"Uh, sure," he mumbled, scooting over to make room. To his extreme consternation, he realized he was blushing faintly. The girl giggled again, then promptly got on her knees to crawl the rest of the way in. Luke got a good look at her face. She had large green eyes, freckles, and a small perky nose.

"Hi, I'm Mara," she said sitting beside him, propping her feet up on the opposite tunnel wall. "What are you doing in here?"

"I'm Luke," he said, choosing not to answer her other question.

"Luke," she mused, "I've heard of you, maybe," she trailed off, brow scrunched up in her thinking. Luke felt the flush creep up on him once again. She's heard of him? Well, that couldn't be good. Never mind he'd never heard of any girl named Mara. "Probably not," she decided after a minute when nothing came to mind. He felt a small sigh of relief escape him. Except after that, a space of awkward silence followed. He cast about for something to say, hell, anything.

"So where do you live?"

Luke felt horror well up inside him. For the love of—why that question? She was going to think he was a creep. She didn't seem to notice that this was a fairly inappropriate question however, because she answered without pause.

"Oh, you know, on the North side of the town."

"You mean the north side of the ghetto." He said absently, not really thinking. The girl blinked at him, before giggling absurdly into her hand. Luke flushed again, what the hell was wrong with him? Yavin Elementary wasn't anything special, it was generally a poor school for a town with poor people in it. But the North side was far better off than the South; the North wasn't struggling to survive. He pretty much just insulted her, the few people in the town who actually had some amount of income. And yet, he heard himself acting defensive.

"The whole town is a ghetto, pretty much. It really just depends on if you have nice parents or not."

"My parents are nice," she put in, seeming not the least bit bothered. "Except my Daddy's never really home."

"Wish mine wasn't," Luke muttered bitterly. She looked at him with an odd expression he couldn't name. "I take it you live on the South side, then."

He snorted a laugh, "Yeah."

"Well at least you're not mean, Daddy says the South people are mean."

Luke nodded sagely, "They are. Don't talk to them."

"Does that mean I can't talk to you?"

"No, I'm the only exception to the rule," he grinned.

She laughed, her big green eyes sparkling. "Well good, I'm glad you're an ex—" She looked confused. "Except-shun."

Luke cringed inwardly, was he or was he not suppose to know the word 'exception? He didn't know, he thought it was appropriate for his age group, but maybe not. He couldn't afford to give the impression that he was smart, it was already bad news for him. Perhaps if he acted stupid and stopped reading so many damn books, he wouldn't have to run, he wouldn't have to—Or probably, she was just a few grades below him.

Against his better judgment, he was about to explain to her what the seemingly simple word meant when a face poked into the tunnel hole again, for a second time that day. And this time, when his heart leapt into his throat, it stayed in his throat.

"Hey Wormie, whatcha doing?" The sneering face of Oz asked him, eyes malicious. Oz was a big kid. Bigger than any fourth grader had the right to be.

"Nothin'," Luke mumbled.

"Oh I don't know, who's this?" He was looking at Mara, who was looking curiously back.

"A girl." Luke stated bluntly.

"Huh, I thought toe headed stupid little third graders weren't suppose to have friends, Wormie?"

Luke sighed, feeling a headache coming on. If Oz could just go away. He had a feeling that he wouldn't do anything in front of Mara, and besides the point, he liked her. Wanted her to stay. He looked imploringly at Oz and said, "Be easy man, be easy." It pretty much just meant calm the hell down and let me talk to this one girl, and Oz knew it. Oz gave Luke a toothy grin. "Ok man, I'll be easy." Oz's face disappeared. Luke let out another sigh of relief, hardly able to believe his luck.

"Who was that?" Mara asked him.

"Oz—his name is Ozzel. Cornelius Ozzel." Luke let himself grin again. Cornelius, not many of the kids knew Oz's first name was Cornelius. Oz despised the name, and threatened anyone who knew it. Mara thought it was funny too, she laughed again. Luke noted that she laughed often, a nice change of sound for sure. It somehow made him feel lighter when he heard it. She had scarcely stopped laughing when the light in the tunnel dimmed. Oz was back, looming over the entrance. He had an apologetic expression on his face.

"Mara, Shira is looking for you, she says it's important."

"Important? Why, what did she say?" Mara asked, her voice sounding confused and a little intrigued.

Oz shrugged his shoulders," Dunno, she just says you gotta go see her, right now."

"Oh," Mara looked at Luke. "Well, I'll talk to you later, Luke." And with that she started to crawl out of the tunnel. He saw the momentary flash of Oz's face split into a triumphant grin. And then Luke knew. He had to get out—now. He scrambled for the other side of the tunnel, desperate. He crawled out, looking over his shoulder to see Mara running across the field to the other side of the playground, supposedly looking for Shira. He turned around.

And he was surrounded.

Luke could feel his heart beating fast in his throat, his limbs trembled slightly. He made a conscious effort to keep them still, to calm down. But there were so many, Four… seven… nine. Nine kids, all older, all bigger. All part of Oz's crew. He charged the smallest of the group, tearing past the boy's outstretched arms and sprinted across the mulch , across the grass in the fields, the sound of stomping feet and loud laughter behind him. He could feel his sides splitting, his breath was coming in short gasps. He cursed himself, cursed his small short legs, cursed his inability to get away. The only chance he had was getting over the fence, to the woods.

He scrambled at the wire fence, trying to get footholds, places to put his hands, trying to climb as fast as his heaving chest and shaking legs would allow. He was halfway there, almost there.

To no avail.

Hands grasped him around the middle, pulling him off, pulling him away from the only measure of safety possible. The hands dropped him, throwing him to the ground, before he was roughly hauled upwards, his arms pinned behind him. He struggled, kicking his legs, digging his nails into their skin, writhing and twisting and trying to throw his weight, tried to get away. But he was not screaming, not yet. Screaming would make it worse, screaming would make it harder, screaming would show he was weak. Screaming would mean other people watching his humiliation.

And screaming never, never ever got help.

'Want to know why I'm here, Mara?

'Well it's because I have no friends. It's because this always happens. It's because my father is an ass, and my mother is an empty shell.

'It's because my body always gets pummeled into the dirt.

"I'll be easy, Luke." He heard Oz say distantly, drowned out by the others laughter, drowned out by the sound of fists hitting flesh. Drowned out by his inevitable screaming.

" …I'll be easy, like hell."

o.o.o.o.o

A/N: Ah, this is a little different. You see, I can't get the story I want in a real star wars era. This story is definitely AU, it takes place on earth, in our time. I said "Yavin Elementary," because I can't think of a good name, lol. Tell me if you got one.

These chapters are going to be kind of short, but it should be updated often. And don't worry, they get older.

Please review, or I won't write LeaMichelle


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